REVIEWED - THE PERFECT MAN: Hilary Duff, currently slouching her way out of adolescence, would do well to take note of the mighty Heather Locklear's career. Blonde, squeaky and not unduly encumbered with talent, Locklear has a lot in common with the younger star. But through sheer force of will she has forced us to allow her to remain on screen for a quarter of a century.

In 2025, will Duff be playing mom to the young star of the moment in the latest tweenie comedy or will she be reduced to touring a dinner theatre production of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? with Lyndsay Lohan? I know where my money is.

Anyway, for the moment we have the disorientatingly inconsequential The Perfect Man, in which Locklear, bravely relinquishing some vanity, does indeed play Duff's mother. The plot is essentially that of the episode of The Simpsons in which Bart invents a boyfriend for Mrs Krabappel. Here Hilary, depressed that her mother, a baker, can never find the right man, begins sending her notes and e-mails from an imagined chef modelled on her best friend's cute uncle, played by Chris Noth. (Yes, you heard right, that's Heather Locklear the baker.) Weedier teenage girls should like it well enough. I preferred the Simpsons version.